* Race St (Green Ride) on March 19, 2010
* Hwy 9 on April 8, 2009

GREEN RIDE Hit & Run

This incident occurred on Race St on Friday, March 19th. The fact that this happened on the ride where we were honoring Joshua Ryan West who was killed by a driver on Feb. 1, 2010 is especially ironic.

The SJ Police need all of the eyewitness accounts. If any eyewitnesses have not gotten in contact with the victim and/or SJ Police, now is the time to do so. Please act NOW before it’s too late!

On my way back from a run I noticed about 5 really attractive people sitting outside Kennedy’s. Not to harsh on Kennedy’s, but these people were Tall and Skinny. I thought it was appropriate that they were dressed in brown and black.

“They call us down and then we have to wait 7 hours. It’s like this each time.” And a lot more grumbling from the extras and staff. Note: a little bird told me they’re not getting carried over into another session, so feelings may be low.

Some neighbors have been complaining, and from what they’ve seen on TV, it hasn’t lived up to the hype. Most of us are just shocked at the money that Hollywood is paying in location fees. For some reason I think it’s 10K/day per spot, but not including the cost of cops, actors, etc. of course.

But anyways, what do you *think* about the miniseries? Well I’ve watched it far too many times, and here are my thoughts.

Episode 2: All’s Fair

First off, the guy from Friday Night Lights is sitting with another guy at Fort Point. Then, they respond to a call at the projects in Bay View. Estimated storytime? 2 minutes. Yep. There are a lot of problems like this one.

They don’t give The White Guy enough lines and time, which is interesting in this series, if you think that most of media gives a lot of time to The White Guys. But the problem is he’s a great actor and it’s kind of wasted, since he has no time to show us he is edgy and crazy. “Don’t kill the white guy,” was perhaps my favorite line in this- when he’s dealing with gang crime over in Bay View.

I really liked that a Caffe Trieste scene was within the first 10 minutes. I don’t really care about the love interest stuff. Can I say that The White Girl looks like a younger Jenna Elfman, and that would be the second time a SF story (Ed TV) featured a Jenna Elfman-ish woman in uniform? Hm. I think I revealed more about myself than any Hollywood plot.

OK this scene has caused the biggest talk amongst neighbors: the hot new guy and The White Girl respond to a call on Maccharini steps (pronounced correctly!) where an old man is halfway up, with a heart attack. Where is he going? The only thing up there is the Green Tortoise hostel, home of crabs and scabies. And young Euro tourists. Anyways, White Girl craftily attempts to give him oxygen and he refuses, he’s really just trying to get some morphine. Those wily EMTs! The funny bit is that the vehicle is parked halfway up. Um, how exactly did it get there? There was a random driving sequence that made no sense. And homeless old drug addict guys do not climb stairs. You’re relatively safe from homeless people on hills. Points to the actors for huffing and puffing their way through the lines. That was real.

Hospital scene, some kind of Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve decided this is St. Francis on Nob Hill. And why, oh why, are there only 5 people who work in this hospital? Having visited the emergency room there (sadly) there was a lot of registration staff, and a few seconds of a doctor, oh, and a lot more EMTs and orderlies.

Just to keep track, 2 calls so far. The next one is a blow-out, a car careens into Embarcadero Street Fair. My question with so much of this is- why make it up? There’s vendors there every day, as well as weird promotions. You don’t have to make it a real fair. Nobody calls it anything, either. It’s just … Embarcadero. I would have preferred the Farmer’s Market myself, but hey.

This happened in another city, and the whole “ripped from the headlines” thing is cute, but in all, at this point watching it the first time, I was done with the violence. It’s just pretty stark and random. I guess they’re trying to get some feeling going for the adrenalin rush and randomness of safety work, but for me as a veiwer, it was stressful. Oh, and note, The White Guy and his partner drove from Washington Square Park to Embarcadero in a realistic story-time (5 mins?).

There are more kids in this show already than per capital in SF. Just sayin’, the kid-acting wasn’t that hot, and the whole subplot of Rabbit and his aversion to kids didn’t work for me. Most of the sentimental subplots aren’t working, not sure why yet. Perhaps because they don’t have enough time or interest to engage? The lines are quick and sappy? The macho stuff doesn’t hold?

The White Guy again got me with a good line- as they’re leaving the Embarcadero Street Fair, his partner says he’s hungry and The White Guy goes, “Noodles?” I have low standards.

My final note that I wrote while watching: “the number of crimes in this show is apocalyptic. Can’t they give some love to Oakland, Richmond or Fremont?”

If you have no idea what I’m talking about:
From Muni Diaries, the translation: Muni Fisticuffs
Original YouTube video
Interview with the cell phone filmer

Factual point: despite MUNI saying it’s the 20, the filmer says it’s before the Stockton Tunnel, and the 20 doesn’t go through the tunnel. So I’m just confused. The young woman who stood in between them is my new hero.

That’s from my birthday party last year at BOW BOW, a karaoke bar on Grant at Broadway. One of my favorite moments was when Candy kicked out 10 privileged twenty-somethings (I’m sure they Yelped about it immediately). Why? Because one of the guys was ordering a gin and tonic about 10 different times and refusing it each time, loudly. Why you would get a mixed drink here, is beyond my knowledge. It would take you about 5 minutes to realize your best bet is sake, Chinese whiskey, or bottled beer. Friends I made that night- another set of local regulars, two guys who considered Candy their adoptive mom, and 3 very professional old guys singing standards.

The song book has listings in Cantonese, Tagalog and English, and you will be rated, not only by the score on the big screen, but by the three guys sitting in the back waiting for their turn. One of the bartenders is opera-quality – she’s the one singing Edelweiss in Cantonese.

I asked one of the workers there if they had seen an increase in abandoned/donated pets, and she said they had, in the past few years, as more owners are moving out of their homes and into rentals, or moving away altogether.

Also, check out great article on San Jose Metblogs re: the opening (Thanks Gary!).

Regarding BART:
> A bike-friendly BART car is in the works (haven’t seen one for myself yet, though)
> Why exactly can’t we take bikes on escalators? Whoever made that rule- have they ever carried their bike up 100 steps, each day?

My least favorite moments on my work commute – because if I can’t rant here, where can I rant?!
- Hipster girl who sped past me at a stoplight as I was starting off, nearly hitting me. On a fixie.
- Cars that race in front of you on a green light, so you have to fall in behind them, then they screech to a halt at the next red, while you cycle up past them. Why do cars race to the next light? I’ll never understand.
- Those big black limo-van things hog the lane and swerve into the bike lane. Each one of them.
- Pedestrians who step into the street while checking traffic. Check traffic, then step into the street! Key intersections: Embarcadero & Market, and Bay & Embarcadero, Sansome & California. Also, I ahve to say pedestrians are so focused on cars they miss cyclists.

On a good note:
- Buses and shuttles have been very courteous to me, on my routes (EmeryGoRound, the 10-Townsend).
- It’s been gorgeous out in the morning and afternoon
- Cycling in SF is so fast- everything is so close together
- It feels like there’s been more people out on bikes, doing errands and stuff. Bike racks seem really full
- Most bars/restaurants/public places I’ve been at, if I ask if they have a place for bikes, they usually do! It’s this neat kind of underground chivalry.

I circled the Bay basically on bike + public transit. Amtrak to San Jose ($15 from Emeryville), Caltrain ($7) to MUNI ($2) and then cycled back home to North Beach.